Home again

Per our original plans we should have been enjoying the warm weather in Gulf Shores Alabama today but reality has set in and here we are ... in cold, blustery Michigan.  The coach is in the shop for a variety of ailments so for the first time in about six years we're going to tough it out in the north country.

We're supposed to be here at Gulf Shores State Park ... But Not!

However just before leaving the South Haven area I must pass along a little lesson that our friends Jerry and Bonna taught us just before camp closing.  Well they really didn't plan on teaching us anything but their misfortune is something all RV'ers can learn from.  Jerry hadn't gotten two miles down the road and his diesel overheated and his journey home halted.  As it turned out his engines serpentine belt gave way and without it he was soon parked roadside.  Finding an engine belt for your particular RV engine nearby turned out to be impossible, as I would suspect most would be, so just to be on the safe side, folks need to buy a set of spare belts (you may have more than one size) and store them away for that day you might really need one.  There's is no guarantee that you'll get back on the road soon as you might not find anyone to install it (if you can't) but at least you have one part of the problem solved.  Also ... if something else caused the belt to break in the first place (bad pulley for instance) you're still hosed but having a replacement belt on hand can't hurt. Now everybody give Jerry a round of applause!

We're having our coach's floor replaced due to the water damage we incurred last July.  Believe it or not it is still wet under the ceramic flooring so I suspect we will have to have the underlayment repaired as well.  In order to accomplish all this we decided to remove everything in the coach so the workers would have less items of ours to work around.  So when we got the coach home we began to empty it.  Six years on the road defied one of the great truths of the world.  Yes you can store 5lbs of stuff in to a 3lb bag. Maybe 6 pounds of stuff!  I had no idea we had accumulated so many 'treasures' and had managed to stuff them into every nook and cranny of the coach.  As bag after bag, box after box and hanger after hanger exited the coach, we quickly noticed how much more room we had in the coach.  Eureka!  Who needs slides now, I'm thinking!

But ... our once neat house now looks as if a bomb had gone off inside.  With all that 'stuff' inside our house now we haven't a clue where we're going to put it all.  We'll get the coach back in April so we've got a whole lot of excuses to dream up for the folks who decide to pay us a visit this winter.

So besides replacing the flooring, we're going to have the couch re-covered, a new refrigerator, new front drapes, new shades for the side windows and refinish the window valances.  Please use my PayPal account to forward any donations.

We're certainly not going to hibernate this winter but may still do a little traveling; this time via my trusty old Trail Blazer.  For instance in a few weeks we'll be visiting our friends Jim and Carol in Iowa and who knows ... maybe even a trip to Carolina's to visits family and friends.  Sharon will certainly steer me into a casino or two and a trip or two back to visit friends and family on the west side of the state will be in order as well.

Home again but still livin' the dream.

Phil